According to Sotheby's, however, the sample up for auction was ceremonially presented to Nina Ivanovna Koroleva, widow of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, one of the early designers and directors of the Soviet space program in the 1950s and 1960s. Koroleva consigned the samples for an earlier Sotheby's auction in 1993, where they sold for $442,500 (£346,000; AUD 623,332) to a private American collector.

The lunar rocks are expected to fetch between $700,000 and $1 million (£547,715 - 782,450; AUD 986,062 - 1,409,000) when they go up for auction again on Nov. 29. In addition to being out of this world, the rocks come with a tiny bit of bling: Sotheby's says they're made up of basalt with visible feldspar crystals.

Definitely a fine gift option for the person who already has everything ... and the gift-giver who has way too much money just laying around.